A New Way of Life
by fernfury
Summary: The animals are starting their new lives on the hrax island. As this happens, two sabers start to grow closer. Diego X Shira.
1. A New Home

I Don't Own Ice Age

I'm reposting this story from my other account, zuri123, because it bugs me if all my stories aren't o one account that I can access. It's a really sweet story about Diego and Shira, and could be a prequel to Forever and Ten Seconds, but I'm not really sure yet. Hope you guys like it!

A New Way of Life

Chapter one: A New Home

Shira's POV

I looked around to see if there was any sign of a good cave around. The ship like ice berg had just landed on the island where Manny, Diego and Sid had taken the pirate ship from Captain Gutt.

I hopped off the ship onto the soft sand, followed by the rest of the animals. Everyone automatically dispersed to find a place to live, because it was obvious that this was where we all were going to live. Peaches and Louis wandered off with the other teens to explore and find a new hang out spot. Leaving the rest of the heard to find a spot where we would live. We all wondered off, going in the general direction of a clearing we could see from the Cove.

"I think we should split up and see if we can find a cave big enough for all of us, or a few caves in the same area that we can all live in." Ellie said.

"Good idea Ellie. You'll go with me. Sid, go with Granny, Eddie and Crash, you'll go together, and try NOT to get in trouble. Umm. That just leaves Diego and Shira." Manny agreed.

I exchange glances with Diego and give him a I-swear-he-did-that-on-purpose look. He shrugs and starts heading towards a path that looks slightly familiar. I look around. Manny and Ellie are looking around a large cave in a cliff at the edge of the clearing. Sid and Granny are checking out 2 smaller caves, and Crash and Eddie are nowhere in sight.

"You coming Kitty." Diego smirked.

Ugh, why does he have to call me that?

"Coming…" I pause, "softie", I reply with a satisfied smirk.

He growls softly at me, but tries to ignore me. We walk up the path in silence. When we come out of the forest, we find a small clearing bordered with more forest, and one half hollow tree with a hole in it, like a tree cave. The roots by what looked like the entrance were torn up. I instantly recognized it.

"Hey, isn't that the tree you locked me up in like 2 days ago" I say to Diego.

"Hey, yeah, it is" laughed Diego.

I smile, glad he still remembers. I wonder if he remembers our talk.

"I also remember it's where you called me a softie." Diego commented.

"Well you are" I reply.

He tackles, but I pin him down.

"You're such a softie!" I tell him, making sure to put an especially annoying smirk on.

Sid walks up the trail.

"Hey, Manny and Ellie have found a cave for them and Peaches, Granny found a cave, and I found a rock to sleep on, have you guys found any place you're going to…" He rambles on.

We stop and stare at him as we realize he's talking to us. Diego has me pinned to the ground. Sid Stares at us, then smiles widely.

"Ohh, I see what's going on here, I leave you too love birds alone too…" He starts to say.

Diego leaps toward Sid and chases him, snarling and making threats. I sit up, but then fall back on the ground, laughing.

Then I get an idea. I go to the forest and grab a bunch of vines and leaves, weaving them in the spaces between the tree roots, making it more like a cave. Then I clear the open space and tar away the roots that held me captive in the tree not so long ago. There, that looks more like a cave, I think to myself. I am just finishing the inside, clearing away the fallen roots, when Diego comes back with a deer. That's when I realize how hungry I am.

"You want some?" Diego offered.

"Yes!" I say and run up to him. We eat the deer in silence. By that time, It's getting dark out.

I walk into the tree cave.

"I don't know where you're sleeping, but this is my cave." I tell him."

"It's a tree" Diego said with a poker face.

"It's a tree cave"

"Whatever"

I am so tired now. I give him a questioning look, but he just stands in the entry way.

"Um, c-can I, um I sleep hear t-tonight?" He asks awkwardly.

He finally asks. I can see him blush. I decide to wait a minute, just to bug him.

"Well, I guess"

He smiles, and lies down inside. I curl up opposite of him and smile. I close my eyes.

"Night softie" I say.

"Night Kitty"

I know he's smirking, even though my eyes are closed and I can't see it.

I glance out the entrance at the stars, and the drift off to sleep.

Please Review

New chapter will be coming out soon, I hope.


	2. Comforting Shira

**Chapter 2: Comforting Shira**

Diego woke up to the sound of soft growling mixed with barely understandable mumbles. He looked around to find Shira deep in sleep, mumbling things in her sleep. Her eyes were shut tightly closed, her nose twitching slightly.

Diego couldn't help but notice how the moon gleamed off of her fur, reflecting light from her shell earrings.

Shira growled in her sleep and started mumbling.

"Gutt you some of a…"

"I didn't do anythi…"

"LET ME GO!"

Finally Diego couldn't take it anymore. He got up and walked over to her. He tried to wake her up. She whimpered. A single tear ran down her cheek. Diego lay down beside her, trying to comfort her. She sighed and snuggled up to him, resting her head on his paws like a small cub would do. Diego rested his head on hers. His last thought before he drifted back to sleep was how awkward this was going to be when she woke up.

**Sorry it's so short. When I got this idea I thought it was so cute though. I just had to use. I'll try to update soon. Please Review.**


	3. Shira's Dream part 1

**Chapter 3: Shira's Dream part 1**

Flashback

1 year ago

_The earth shattered. Shards of rock showered the ground, blocking the entrance. There was no escape. The tigress was trapped. A boulder fell inches from her shoulder._

_"Help!" She yelled over and over to the rest of her pack, but it wasn't loud enough. Another earthshattering tremor sent her flying into the wall. Then all was still. The tigress slowly stood up. The last earth shake had opened a very unstable looking opening in the rock wall. She carefully crept through the opening, carefully to not even let her fur brush the rock walls. She got about 2 feet away from the opening before it collapsed behind her. She wandered warily off to find the rest of her back._

_*****Later…*****_

_The tigress found her pack in a cave 3 cave over from the one she had been trapped in._

"_Shira, what happened to you?" Asked the leader of the pack flatly, obviously not caring what had happened. "We heard you yell for help, where were you? I hope you weren't in that cave that collapsed."_

_"You!" She said viciously, growling at him. She let her claws sink into the loose dirt ground._

_"What?" He said a little too knowingly. He was a REALLY bad actor._

_"You pushed me into that cave. You knew it was going to collapse, didn't you."_

_"Oh, of course I knew. But you were the one that brought the earth quake, so I figured that you must have wanted to be killed by it." He laughed evilly._

_"What are you talking about?"_

_"Well, your evil white coat is such a bad omen; it is a curse to this..."_

_"The short version Diablo," She said, somewhat annoyed. She had heard this explanation a million times. She was blamed for EVERY bad thing that happened to the pack._

_"Your white coat brought this earth quake, just like it brought every other bad thing that ever happened to this pack. Nothing bad ever happened until you were born. The pack thrived. Never missed a kill on a hunt. Always beat other packs on border fights. Cubs were healthy and grew up strong fighters. Since you came, half hunting trips end in failure, 3 cubs have died, one was born blind, and one will never get to hunt or learn how to fight because its leg is permanently injured. The pack is starving and we've lost half of our territory to Soto and his pack. And now, the island is falling apart, and we have nowhere to go. It's all your fault!" By that time he started yelling. He finished with a hateful snarl and glared at her._

_The rest of the pack whispered behind._

_"White furred freak"_

_"She caused all of this"_

_"She should just leave."_

_"To bad she escaped that cave."_

_Insults and complaints rippled through the pack, mixed with angry glares and quiet growls._

_"Fine. I leave you and your stupid pack to suffer on this stupid island. Have fun being destroyed WITHOUT me!" Anger and rage welled up inside Shira._

_"Fine!"_

_"Fine!"_

_She turned around and stalked away, but not before she shot an I-hate-you-and-never-want-to-see-you-ever-again look at her brother, who had called her a white furred freak._

_She broke into a run and didn't stop until she reached the tip of the island, where it had broken away from the mainland a few weeks ago, leaving the pack with very little food. _

_Shira stared up at the moon._

_"Why did I have to have white fur?" she whispered to herself. She lay down on the ice, concealed by her snowy white coat, and fell asleep; secretly hoping she wouldn't wake up._

_But she did, and when she did she say that she had floated out to see on a chunk of ice that had broken off from the island._

_"Good" she thought "Further away from those jerks" Then she realized she had no food and was surrounded by water. It would only be a matter of time before she starved to death. Or worse, drowned when the ice melted from beneath her._

To be continued…

**So, Shira's dream, the first part. I haven't gotten to the part where she meets Gutt yet. The dream basically is a flashback of her past and why she left her pack. More to come soon. Please review**!


	4. Shira's Dream part 2

**Ok, so here is the second part of Shira's dream. It gets a little crazy towards the end. But you know dreams, they're crazy. So hear it is. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 4: Shira's Dream part 2**

_Shira woke up to the sound of waves lapping against the edges of her small ice flow. She had been floating around in the ocean for over a day. There was hardly any ice left, just enough room for her to lie down. Suddenly there was a loud voice yelling at her._

_"Come aboard or face a fate of drowning."_

_Shira looked up. There, on a large ice berg that looked to be shaped like a boat, was a monkey, a kangaroo, a seal, a bunny, a boar, a badger, and various other animals. Shira went aboard their ship. She stayed with the pirates, not wanting to go back to the pack of idiots she had once called family, and gained their trust, became one of them. She made her way up the ranking from person-who-got-saved-from-the-sea to first-mate. She had a good life there. Enough to eat. Fresh water. Companions who didn't care what colour her fur was. But she never really felt like she belonged there, like it wasn't quite home. That all changed the day the crew captured two sloths, a mammoth, and a saber. Weird that the saber didn't attack the sloth or the mammoth. Even weirder that the sloth and mammoth trusted the saber. But life goes on. Just another day on a pirate ship, right? Wrong!_

_*****Yesterday…*****_

_Shira stared at Gutt, pain and hurt reflecting in her eyes, no matter how much she tried to hide it. She couldn't help that she let Diego go. She had to. It just felt right. If only she had gone with him. But no, Gutt would have gotten them. They would've all been dead within 5 minutes._

_"Gutt, please just listen. I can expla…"_

_The blow of Gutt's fist sent her flying into the ice wall._

_"You're a failure." He sneered at her._

_"Gutt you some of a…"_

_A huge wave hit her, sending her flailing into the ocean. Wait, that didn't happen. Shira thought._

_She hit the bottom of the sea hard. Like rock, but it looked like sand. Sea weed swirled around her, stirring up the sand. Black shadows with red eyes surrounded her. "It's your fault." Diablo's voice echoed in her mind._

_"I didn't do anything."_

_The sea weed wrapped around her paws, drawing her into the sand._

_"LET ME GO" She screamed trying to free. She struggled free and started swimming for the surface. But wait, there was no surface. Just never ending water. She couldn't swim either; she just awkwardly kicked her paws, trying to get air. She finally just gave up, whimpering and letting a single tear escape._

_That is when Shira entered that level of sleep where you don't dream._

**So, this turned more into a nightmare than a normal dream. Hope you like it. Next chapter is coming soon. Please Review!**


	5. The Awkward Silence

**Here is the 5th chapter of A New Way of Life. I really hope you guys like it. It is kinda short but it is cute. Hear it is. Enjoy.**

**Chapter 5: The Awkward Silence**

Shira opened her eyes from her long semi dreamless sleep. After her nightmare, her head had been filled with flashbacks of her mother and dark nothingness. She lifted up her head, which woke up a very sleepy Diego, who had been resting his head on top of hers.

"Diego, what are you doing."

"Um, you had a nightmare, and you seemed so lonely and sad. I was trying to comfort you." He said innocently.

"You are such a softie."

"Yeah, I heard." Diego went back to his sarcastic self.

Then, for some weird reason they just stared at each other. Looking into each other's eyes. There was a really long awkward silence.

Finally, after what was probably 5 minutes, Shira spoke.

"Well, I'm going fishing at the shore, you want to come?"

"Sure, I could use a swim."

"Oh, so now you can swim?"

"Yeah. Don't you. I mean, you spent like a year on a pirate ship."

"No, I never learned how to swim. We always just got Flynn to do anything that involved swimming."

"Oh. Well, you want to learn how."

"Ok, and in return I have to teach you something. Do you know how to fish?"

"No, I've always just caught dear."

"Great. You teach me how to swim, and then I teach you how to fish. Deal"

"Deal."

"Race you there!"

"You're on kitty!"

And with that the two sabers ran towards switch back cove. What they didn't know is that a very sneaky half possum mammoth was eavesdropping on their entire conversation and had seen everything…

**So there it is. Hope you liked it. Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out what Peaches saw. The chapter after that will have Diego's swimming lesson and Shira's fishing lesson. **

**Please Review! Will Update Soon!**


	6. Operation Tiger Tiger

**Alright, hear is the 6th chapter of my story. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 6: Operation tiger tiger**

Peaches smiled sneakily as the two tigers ran away towards the beach. They hadn't even known she was there. She had seen everything. Of course, she had to watch them sleep for like 5 minutes before they woke up, but it was way worth it.

Peaches quietly got up and went to find her friends.

She found them at the ROCK. The ROCK was a large rock that came out of the ocean and toward hundreds of feet in the air, almost as tall as the mountain that lay in the centre of the island. The place where the teens hung out was the section of beach that was sheltered by the overhanging ROCK. Parties went pretty much every Saturday night, and they were awesome.

Peaches walked up to Steffie, Katie, and Meagan. They were using sticks to draw something in the sand.

"Hey guys. How's the plan coming." Peaches greeted.

" It's coming great!" answered Steffie.

"Yeah!" Meagan agreed.

"Ethan is sending the spies out now!" Katie added.

Ethan walks over and picks up a stick, starting to draw on the drawing in the sand.

"So, you three and Peaches, when she gets back, are going to cover the beach. I have spies spread across the entire section of the island that where we are allowed to go, and a few rebels who are going a little ways past out limit. I'll go with them. Louis is going to keep watch over the camp where they are staying. Crash and Eddie caught some sea gulls and are our eyes in the sky. How they learned to fly, I have absolutely no idea." Ethan said.

"Buck taught them how on the flying dinosaurs. I told you that." Peaches informed.

"Thank you Peaches." Ethan said, then did a double take as he realized that Peaches had arrived. "Oh! Peaches! You're back! Did you hear any of that."

"All of it." Peaches said.

"Great. Now what's the news on the tigers." Steffie asked.

"They're going to the beach today. Diego is teaching Shira to swim and Shira is teaching Diego how to fish." Peaches informed again.

"Shira doesn't know how to swim?!" Katie asked.

"Don't question it!"Meagn retorted.

"Awesome, let's head out. Fred! You're holding base!" Ethan commanded.

Fred (from somewhere in the Rock Cove), responded. "Sir Yes Sir!"

"Operation tiger tiger is at go" Steffie said.

And so Peaches, Steffie, Katie, and Meagan all head out to the Beach to continue their spying mission.

**Ok, two interesting things about this chapter.**

**I found this chapter really awesome**

**I had a strange desire to eat a cheeseburger while writing this chapter.**

**What do you guys think of this chapter and operation tiger tiger. Next chapter had more Diego and Shira in it. Please don't judge me for wanting to eat a cheese burger while I wrote this. I'm just hungry.**

**Please Review! Will Update soon!**


	7. Fish Out of Water

Shira beat Diego to the beach. Diego wasn't surprised. She was a faster runner than he was, but he was stronger.

"So, you were going to teach me to swim?" Shira asked expectantly.

"Yes."

"Well?"

"Well, first you have to get in the water." Diego teased.

"Well no duh!"

"ok, ok. Lesson begins now."

Diego walked into the shallows. He turned to see Shira just standing at the edge of the water, unsure of whether or not to follow him.

"You know, you have to get in the water before you can swim." Diego said, getting a little impatient.

Shira slowly waded in after him.

"K. So, basically.. Erm. How to explain it. You basically stalk prey in water.

"What?!" Shira exclaimed, confused and bewildered.

"You know, stalk prey. Claw, kick, claw, kick." Diego swam around Shira as she watched with interest.

"O. K?" Shira copied Diego. Within minutes the two were swimming around and laughing.

"O.k. I taught you how to swim. Now you hold up your end of the deal." Diego said when they finally returned to the shore.

"O.k. well, first we should find some fish. So… you look over there and I'll look over here."

They split up and searched different ends of the beach. Diego found a deep tide pool filled with ish that couldn't escape. The perfect spot to fish because they had until the tide came in to catch as many of th 20 fish in the pool as they wanted.

Shira continued the lesson.

"So, you unsheathe your claws and hook the fish like this." Shira demonstrated and caught a fish effortlessly.

Diego tried and fell almost fell into the pool. Shira laughed at him.

"Try again!" She said, though it was almost unintelligible because she was laughing.

Diego finally got the hang of it and the two caught a nice meal of about 5 fish each.

As they ate, Shira asked Diego about how he had learned to swim.

"Well, it's a long story." He said.

"We've got all afternoon. It's not like we have to be anywhere anytime soon."

So Diego told her about Sid's water park and the vultures and meeting Ellie and the Flood and basically everything that happened in Ice Age 2. (If you have seen the movie, you'll get it. That's the only way I can describe it.)

"And that's how I know how to swim." Diego finished after about half an hour of explaining.

Shira looked at him with a disbelieving face. "Seriously." She said. "A sloth taught you how to swim. Not even. SID taught you to swim."

"Sometimes I find it hard to believe myself." Diego replied. Then he got a thoughtful look on his face. "How do you know how to fish."

"My pack lived by a river with lots of fish in it. I watched sabers fish. I left before I got to try it myself. When I joined Guts crew, I remembered watching my Pack fish and practiced when we went ashore. I eventually got good at it and would catch a bunch of fish each time we went to the shore and store them in the ice of the ship."

"Oh. Well, that makes sense."

"Yeah. Makes allot more sense than a sloth teaching a saber to swim."

They looked at eachother and laughed.

The bushes moved behind them, even though there was no wind, and there was a very quiet giggle followed by three "shh's".

They looked at eachother.

"We should probably head back now." Suggested Shira, winking knowingly.

"Good idea."

So the tigers got up and walked back to the clearing where the herd had made their home.

**So, Diego teaches Shira to swim, and Shira gives Diego a fishing lesson. What do you think. I will try to Update as soon as I can. Please Review!**


	8. The Colour Blue

**I go this idea a while ago and had to put it into the story. I think it's really sweet and hope you do too. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 8: The Colour Blue**

It was a few hours after Diego and Shira had been at the beach. The sun was just beginning to sink into the horizon. The rest of the herd was foraging in the forest for their supper. You know. Picking berries and gathering fruit from trees. This left the two sabers alone in the clearing. 15 minutes had already passed and there was an awkward silence between the two the entire time.

Diego got bored of this, and decided to attempt to make conversation.

"Err… Um… So. We don't really know that much about you."

"What do you mean." replied Shira.

"Well. We don't know stuff like your favourite food. Or your favourite colour, for example."

"You already know my favourite food Diego."

"Yeah, fish. I prefer antelope, but that's just me."

There was another silence, and Shira had a thought.

"So, Diego. What's your favourite colour?"

"Orange."

Shira laughed. "Like your fur."

"No!" Diego glared back at her, but was obviously not hurt by her comment. "More like the colour of an actual orange." He paused. "What's your favourite colour?"

Shira paused, not really sure she should reveal this information, even though it was just her favourite colour. She was still used to living in a pack, and only revealing as much information that would get you out of a question alive, or without a scar.

"Blue." She finally said.

"What shade of blue?" Diego asked, slightly annoyed that she had picked a colour with many shades, without giving a clue as to which shade of blue I was. Yes, he was picky.

"The colour of your eyes?"

"Close, but no."

"The colour of your earing?"

"Nope." Shira smiled playfully at him.

"The colour of the sea."

Shira paused at this, like she had been hit in the face and had triggered some memory she didn't want to remember.

"No." She said, trying to hide the waver in her voice.

"Fine, I give up!" Diego said.

"The shade of blue that comes only just before a sunset, just before the sky starts to turn orange and pink."

The two sabers stopped talking after that for some reason that is unknown.

Just as the sun disappeared into the ocean, Diego finally spoke.

"So, the colour blue huh."

"Yep." Shira said.

Then the herd came back and everybody went to sleep.

**So, did you like it? Was it good? Was it bad? Did you think it was sweet? Please review! More to come soon!**


	9. Confession

**Hey guys. This is the second last chapter. Yes, you heard me, second last. Anyways, enjoy this chapter!**

Diego couldn't sleep. Not at all. He paced in front of the den, the moon illuminating his orange fur. He just couldn't get her out of his mind. It had been like 5 days, but he had done what he thought was the impossible for him. He had fallen in love. Why couldn't he just tell her? What was stopping him? It bugged him so much. He would fight a bear any day. He had taken on dinosaurs for goodness sakes. But he just couldn't tell the girl of his dreams that he liked her.

Shira lay awake in the den, listening to the Diego's footsteps as he paced in front of the den. She hadn't been able to sleep. She just lay in the den with her eyes closed thinking. Thinking about the way she felt towards him. Thinking about how she was going to confess her love to the man of her dreams.

2 hours later…

Shira got up and sat in the entrance of the cave, Diego stopped when he noticed her.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey."

"Couldn't sleep either?"

"Nope. Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Thinking." said Diego after a long pause. He went and lay down on the ledge overlooking the ocean.

"Thinking about what?" Shira said as she lay down next to him.

Diego was silent.

"Sid mentioned that when you were sailing back to the continent after stealing_ his_ ship, you saw sirens. That true." She asked after a few moments.

"Yep." Diego's answer was simple, too simple, like he was trying to hide something from her.

"Who'd you see?" Shira looked at him.

Diego blushed. "You." He said and looked away. Shira blushed a little too.

"Who would your siren be if you saw one?" Diego asked her.

"You." Shira answered and blushed even more.

They both looked into each other's eyes. They said it at the same time.

"I love you."

**So, how was that for the second last chapter? I know it's sad, but the next chapter is going to be awesome. Hope you guys liked this one. I will update soon. Please Review!**


	10. Epilogue

**So guys, this is the last chapter of A New Way of Life. Enjoy!**

It had been four months since Diego and Shira had officially become mates. They couldn't be happier. Shira had managed to recover from her haunting nightmares of the past. The herd was now settled on the island and adapting to tropical life. Other animals were washing up on the shores almost daily. They were rescued and joined the others on the island.

Shira and Diego were walking along a ledge at the top of the cliff, looking over the island, a.k.a. their new territory. Being the only predators on the island had its perks, no competition for food, no fights over territory, e.t.c. They enjoyed the island. Shira stared out at the sea watching the sun set.

"Diego." She said

"Yeah?" Diego replied and came up next to her, hoping that nothing was.

"Um, I don't know how to tell you this." She began, pacing.

"Don't sugar coat it." Diego smirked.

"Why?"

""Because you couldn't sugar coat it if you tried."

Shira laughed. "You know me to well."

"What were you going to tell me?" Diego looked at her expectantly.

Shira sighed. "I'm pregnant." She said.

If Diego's jaw could have hit the ground, it would have.

He couldn't talk. He didn't know what to say. Out of all the things he had had to deal with over the years of being in the weirdest heard on earth, this was not one of them.

He just stared into Shira's beautiful and smiled.

**So ,that's it, the end, finished. So, I hope you guys liked the story. Please review.**


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